Mr Winmill formerly had problems finding young people to join his logging teams.
The Waikouaiti contractor, who has teams logging Waimate and Herbert forests for Blakely Pacific, featured in the Otago Daily Times on July 24, saying young people did not seem interested in physical work outdoors after spending their time watching television or on computers or PlayStations.
A logging contractor for 25 years, in recent times he had found it increasingly difficult to fill vacancies, despite, he said, being willing to "give anyone a go".
Since that story appeared, Mr Winmill said he had had about 50 inquiries for jobs.
Two of those came from inmates at Milton prison, which did not perturb him because he had always been willing to give anyone a hand up.
Yesterday, when contacted by the ODT, Mr Winmill said he was surprised by the response.
Both his teams are now fully staffed, but he intends to keep the names of those who replied.
"There are at least half a dozen who would fit the bill," he said.
"Obviously, there are people out there."
He talked to most of those who contacted him about a job, about two-thirds of whom may not have worked for two or three years.
Some "needed to be somewhere" before they went out on the sort of work he did, Mr Winmill said.
However, there were not any good options to offer "life skill" training, he said.
He suggested something like a short time with the New Zealand Army.
"Some of these young people leave school and get lost in the system."
Telford used to offer forestry training, which was helpful, but that stopped a few years ago.
The course had covered all aspects of forestry.
It involved a considerable amount of classroom time which, Mr Winmill felt, did not suit some young people, who had just come from doing that at school.
"If they were academic, they would have gone to uni."
He agreed perhaps specific short courses related to aspects of forestry, such as logging, would be valuable - something the industry and individual contractors could look at.
"It would give young people a few clues before they go out [into logging] and a practical, hands-on course they would find a lot more interesting," he said.
